Madoka Magica - General Discussion

[Guernsey]

What NTFTH said. They're adolescents. I think the only reason Incubators don't target boys is for the meta-reasoning of "We're deconstructing Magical GIRL shows".

To be fair, Adolescents and Prepubscent kids aren't known for their wise decisions. Also, the cast members including Madoka are plot devices. The series didn't really explore how inconvient it is to have to go out and fight monsters.

[AuraTwilight]

It did, actually, it's just arguable how effective that was. Mami had no time for a social life, Sayaka went crazy, Kyubey has to turn them into zombies so it was actually feasible, etc.

I agree the show could've stood to be longer.

[sa547]

First Italian Broadcast on RAI4

[xizro345]

Yes. I will write a post about the Italian version here once I've seen it.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by sa547

First Italian Broadcast on RAI4

Bah, this won't be fun. The Italians aren't particularly know for causing a storm over what's shown on TV.

[xizro345]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Bah, this won't be fun. The Italians aren't particularly know for causing a storm over what's shown on TV.

THings have quite changed a bit since that time you know, especially since it's a DVB-T only broadcast on a secondary channel.

[Arkanis]

Originally Posted by xizro345

Yes. I will write a post about the Italian version here once I've seen it.

I hope that someone will record it. Madoka and Italian, one of my favorite anime meets (mates) with one of my favorite languages. I can't miss that.

[xizro345]

I think you can see it from Rai 4 site. Not sure if it's IP blocked though, and you have to take into account the timezones as well...

[Rinnel]

Yes you can watch Rai online http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/dirette/P...hannel=Rai%204 , it's actually aired now you need Microsoft Silverlight.

Edit :
Sorry if you are not in Italy you can't watch it unfortunately. It says: "This content is reserved to the users in the Italian country" .

[xizro345]

Ok I've seen it. The overall result is decent, however there are a couple points dragging the adaptation down:

- Madoka's voice suffers from poor dubbing direction. This means her voice, especially in high pitched sequences, feels out of place.

- Kyubei's name was mistakenly named as "Kyubee" (taking into account the Japanese pronounciation)

Good points:

- Sayaka, Homura and Mami's voices are pretty much spot on. Hitomi's good as well;
- The overall adaptation seems to have been done good: I predict some raging over the choice of using "maga" (mage, sort of) to translate "maho shojo", but there was no other way around.

Overall decent works it seems, I need to check Kyoko's voice once she appears.
Also, the aired version is (understandably) the BD version.

[Arkanis]

I watched a stream rip of the Italian version. I have to say that I am really pleased with the result. Italy has now a nearly perfect release: a reasonably priced limited edition with great extras and a very good dub.

[xizro345]

There's a high chance it'll bomb though. The Italian anime market has been diying since ages. Even high profile anime have struggled in sales, save very well known titles (and I mean Eva-level of popularity. anything else simply doesn't sell). Dynit (the Italian licensor) doesn't look to be banking on Madoka a lot, LE or not.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by xizro345

There's a high chance it'll bomb though. The Italian anime market has been diying since ages. Even high profile anime have struggled in sales, save very well known titles (and I mean Eva-level of popularity. anything else simply doesn't sell). Dynit (the Italian licensor) doesn't look to be banking on Madoka a lot, LE or not.

^
Sounds like it's a huge gamble.

Then what title(s) were they're hedging their bets on? No surprises if it's a shonen title or two, which historically they sold more than anything else.

[Sackett]

Originally Posted by andyjay729

Finally watched this one. Dayum. I don't cry easily, but I was blubbering nonstop through the last episode. I think this might be a record for the most depressing series I've ever seen (although I haven't yet seen Evangelion in its entirety).

In the end I thought it's worthy of its praise between its acting and especially its wildly surreal art (yes, I am a fan of surrealism). But I have one question for you fans...

I'm not exactly a feminist, and I don't see sexism everywhere I look, however I have been known to read a bit too much into things. Does anyone else see some slightly unfortunate implications in that in this show, females are so beholden to their emotions that they turn into psychic doomsday devices when they get too upset? It's not like males wouldn't suffer the same emotional issues that doomed these girls, but there don't seem to be any magical boys.

But no, I don't really think Urobochi is a misogynist who think women are unable to control their emotions. They say the basic purpose of art is to provoke a reaction in the viewer, and he certainly succeeded there. Congratulations, sir, you've created a profoundly moving, heart-rending tale that will go down in anime history, even if you did possibly traumatize your seiyuu cast.

If you read the Seven Basic Plots you'll see that young women have a certain symbolism that is appropriate here in a way a young man isn't. I think that's what drives it, not sexism.

[astranagun]

Originally Posted by sa547

^
Sounds like it's a huge gamble.

Then what title(s) were they're hedging their bets on? No surprises if it's a shonen title or two, which historically they sold more than anything else.

The title is Gundam UC, they have even created a different homepage for it, something that Dynit hasn't done before (if I remember right)

[xizro345]

Originally Posted by sa547

^
Sounds like it's a huge gamble.

Then what title(s) were they're hedging their bets on? No surprises if it's a shonen title or two, which historically they sold more than anything else.

Right now? Gundam Unicorn. Gundam sales (especially after they published the movies via cheap-newsstands editions) have been consistently good. The issues here are several:

- Small, almost insignificant market (2000 copies are considered a success);
- Small companies (forget anything Funimation or Viz-size);
- Sadly to say, but extremely high piracy rates (but this has been an issue since 1992, so it's a very pressing issue);
- Also, most people are ok with seeing the stuff on TV but not buying anything: for example Code Geass and Gurren Lagann were highly promoted and had a TV run, but despite this the sets sold basically nothing;
- Lack of competition: there are two major players but they don't compete at all, they just try to coexsist.

Usually for series like Madoka, the licensor pairs up with a TV network to offset part of the costs. It also serves to reduce costs for dubbing (about 2500$/hour to make an example in USD).
Madoka had only cross-promotion so far. Basically there was a survey to decide the voice actors, but that's it. The LE was announced only on their site, as well as the announcement of airing. They did a pre-air net-only sub-only streaming event of the series like they did with Deadman in Wonderland, but AFAIK that just fueled arguments over adaptation.
Speaking of this, as I predicted the Italian boards are raging a bit over the choice of translation of "maho shojo"...

[sa547]

^
Almost looks like the unsure scene here in my country: discs are sold within the gray market, there are some counterfeit products, TV stations treating anime as if they're filler, and of course, left and right there are bootleg copies of well-known titles (no thanks to a culture of cheapskate-ism). And live-action Asian soap operas and K-Pop are cheaper to produce yet more profitable than anime.

You could be right, given the sordid situation in Italy... Dynit is risking themselves too far that it could break them completely.

[xizro345]

Well, considering most of the people here, I'm a pessimist. Madoka is the first Italian anime product I'm getting since ten years (mostly because they didn't anything that remotely interested me all this time, so I went for JP BD/DVDs most of the time), and I also had the fortune/misfortune (depends on the viewpoint) of collaborating with Dynit when I was attending university (back then it was called Dynamic Italia) so I got a few insights on how the market works here, and the opinion I have on it isn't really good. Also keep in mind most of these companies decide their titles not only based on costs and such, but also on personal preferences.
I really want Madoka to succeed though, that could open the way for more stuff not exactly popular. The adaptation is mostly good as well. I'm not sure I'll keep following the TV broadcast but if people are interested I'll try to give a report every week if I do, including a review of the BD sets once they're out.

[AbZeroNow]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...a-magica-anime

Crunchyroll has episode 1 on there, and will add new episodes every Wednesday. Hulu and Crackle are also going to stream it.

I guess I will finally watch it just so I can see what everyone is talking about regarding Homura and such.

[sa547]

Originally Posted by AbZeroNow

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...a-magica-anime

Crunchyroll has episode 1 on there, and will add new episodes every Wednesday. Hulu and Crackle are also going to stream it.

I guess I will finally watch it just so I can see what everyone is talking about regarding Homura and such.

One caveat: the streaming will be limited to only a few areas.